[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 19888]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         DR. DONALD M. TOPPING

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 25, 2003

  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember the late Dr. 
Donald M. Topping of Huntington, West Virginia, who passed away at the 
age of 73 on June 29, 2003. He will be remembered for his contributions 
in preserving the Chamorro culture, especially his work with the 
Chamorro language of Guam and the Northern Marianas.
  Dr. Topping leaves behind his wife, Priscilla Topping, and his 
children Miles and Lee Minh Topping, Jason Kesolei, Dee Johnson and 
Leslie Jensen. He also leaves behind eight grandchildren and four 
great-grandchildren.
  Dr. Topping was Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University 
of Hawaii. He was also a founding member of the department. Dr. Topping 
was also responsible for co-founding the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii in 
1993. He served as its president until 2003 and received the 
Ho'omaluhia, or Peacemaker award, for advocating drug policy reforms on 
Hawaii. Dr. Topping was also the director of the Pacific and Asian 
Linguistics Institute from 1969-1974 and director of the Social Science 
Research Institute from 1974-1996.
  Dr. Donald Topping was considered a modern pioneer of the Chamorro 
language and was the main voice for modernizing the Chamorro language 
through his work on the reference grammar and the orthography. As an 
English professor at the former Territorial College of Guam, Dr. 
Topping taught himself the Chamorro language with the help of friends 
and neighbors in an effort to help his students learn English. He went 
on to author the books, Spoken Chamorro, in 1969; Chamorro Reference 
Grammar, in 1973; and the Chamorro-English Dictionary, with Pedro Ogo 
and Bernadita Dungca, in 1975, which put the Chamorro language into 
written form.
  Dr. Topping's work demonstrated that the Chamorro language had very 
unique features that could be best understood as an Austronesian 
Language rather than the popular misconception of Spanish origins. His 
work with the Bilingual Education Project was unprecedented in the 
efforts to protect the precious culture of the Chamorro people through 
their language. His genius and contributions to the Chamorro language 
as well as all the languages of Micronesia cannot be overstated.
  On behalf of the people of Guam, I would like to extend our 
condolences to the family of the late Dr. Donald Topping. The people of 
Guam will always be grateful for his work with the Chamorro language. 
It is through the work of a man like Dr. Topping that a greater 
understanding and appreciation of the cultures of the world can be 
gained.

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